Research Reports

This section highlights the most recent examples of  student projects.

Note to Master’s Projects Teams– Apply for the Masters Opus Book Project Award and Get Published!
Intended to multiply the real-world impact and career-development value of  SNRE master’s opuses,  new opus projects listing at least one Erb MBA/MS student as an author are eligible to win. Recognition of winning team: Members of the winning team, and their advisor, will each receive several copies of the book, for which they will receive author/advisor credit.  Click here for details and application.

 

MAP – Rapid Growth of Antalya, Turkey and Taxis

May 13, 2013

City of Antalya
Multidisciplinary Action Project

Authors: Aamer Ali, Santiago Gomez-Bernal, Shaun Herbert and Michael Rockett (’15)
Faculty Advisor: Ted O’Leary

Abstract: The government in Turkey had asked major cities to complete sustainable transport plans, Antalya among them.  That plan is about to be made public within the next few months.  The Mayor’s office asked the MAP team to contribute by examining how taxi operations could be better integrated within the overall transport plan.  This involved looking at issues of sustainability in conjunction with concerns to ensure equitable availability of taxis to all zones and demographics within the city.

Read the final report

MAP – Designing Innovative Corporate Water Risk Management Strategies from an Ecosystem Services Perspective

May 10, 2013

Designing Innovative Corporate Water Risk Management Strategies from an Ecosystem Services Perspective
Multidisciplinary Action Project

Authors: Daniel Gerding (’14), Berry Kennedy (’14), Makely Lyon (’14), Joshua Rego, and Emily Taylor (’14)
Advisor: Don Scavia, Ph.D.

Abstract: In January of 2012, we teamed up with representatives from the sustainability department at The Dow Chemical Company with the goal of creating a viable, creative solution that would advance The Company’s efforts to address the risk associated with freshwater scarcity. With uncertainty surrounding the impacts of climate change and other environmental threats, it is becoming increasingly important for corporations to fully understand and incorporate the value of the benefits nature provides into strategic decisions. The focal ecosystem service of our project was freshwater provisioning. Freshwater is critical to life and a key ingredient to many economic activities, such as power generation, agriculture and industrial processes. Water scarcity is of particular interest to Dow, given that 20 percent of The Company’s global production comes from the Freeport, Texas facility on the water-stressed Brazos River. Read more

View the full project

Environmental assessment of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles using naturalistic drive cycles and vehicle travel patterns: A Michigan case study

April 22, 2013

Environmental assessment of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles using naturalistic drive cycles and vehicle travel patterns: A Michigan case study (html)

Authors: Brandon M. Marshall (Erb ’13), Jarod C. Kelly, Tae-Kyung Lee, Gregory A. Keoleian,  Zoran Filipi

Publication: Energy Policy
Publisher: Elsevier

Highlights:

  • Travel patterns from survey data are combined with naturalistic drive cycles.
  • More realistic PHEV energy modeling using these synthesized real-world drive cycles.
  • Methodology is demonstrated for PHEVs in Michigan but applicable for other regions.
  • Energy and emissions findings have major implications for PHEV standards and policy.

Read more: Environmental assessment of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles using naturalistic drive cycles and vehicle travel patterns: A Michigan case study (pdf)

University Of Michigan Health System: Waste Stream Assessment & Strategy

April 22, 2013

Client Organization: University of Michigan Health System
Secondary Client Organization: Patient Food & Nutrition Services
Secondary Client Website: Patient Food & Nutrition Services
SNRE Faculty Advisor: Ming Xu
Master Students Involved in Project: 
  • Jenna Agins (Erb ’13), MBA/MS Sustainable Systems
  • Annie Cronin (Erb ’14), MBA/MS Environmental Policy and Planning
  • Catherine Dyson (Erb ’14), MBA/MS Sustainable Systems
  • Kate Newlin, MS Sustainable Systems
Summary of Project Idea: 

About Patient Food and Nutrition Services (PFANS) 
PFANS prepares and provides food and food services to patients throughout the UM health and hospital system including, University Hospital, Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital, C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and the Cardiovascular Center. It also delivers meals and supplements to elderly outpatients through its Ann Arbor Meals on Wheels program. PFANS staffs about 250 employees and has an operating budget of over $16 million.

About the Project
With the opening and construction of several new facilities, PFANS is currently going through significant transition in the way it operates. These developments provide a significant and timely platform for a student team to assess and make actionable recommendations on how to change PFANS’s waste stream management to incorporate industry-leading sustainability strategies. There is significant impetus from the group to find opportunities for waste reduction that streamlines operational processes and delivers tangible cost-savings. These opportunities will help further the dual goals of reducing PFANS’s waste footprint and continuing to remain a leader in healthcare delivery. Considerations include expansion and improvement of recycling efforts (possibility taking advantage of existing programs within the University of Michigan), incorporation of composting processes in new facilities, product improvement/replacement, vendor selection, operational assessment, social and environmental benefits to stakeholders, employee engagement and cost analysis. The final deliverable would be a comprehensive waste management strategy, business plan and possible action plan for a pilot program. Read more

SNRE Program Areas: 

  • Behavior, Education, and Communication
  • Sustainable Systems

Creating A REDD+ Architecture For Mexico

April 22, 2013

Client Organization: The Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature, A.C.
SNRE Faculty Advisor:  Bill Currie
Master Students Involved in Project: 
  • Hannah Erickson, MS Environmental Policy and Planning
  • Nancy Gephart (Erb ’14), MBA/MS Sustainable Systems
  • Allie Goldstein, MS Environmental Justice/Environmental Policy and Planning
  • Sam Stevenson (Erb ’14), MBA/MS Environmental Informatics
Summary of Project Idea: 

The report described below (from Executive Summary Conservation Finance Alliance Report:http://www.conservationfinance.org/upload/library/arquivo20101101223100.pdf)  describes an attempt to draft a REDD+ architecture for 5 case study countries. The master’s project would try to do a similar process for Mexico, in conjunction with the Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature, one of Mexico’s leading environmental organizations.

From the Executive Summary of the prototype report: 
In 2010, in-person and telephone based interviews were carried out by PwC with stakeholder representatives from government, civil society, academia and the private sector in six countries: Brazil, Cambodia, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Madagascar and Peru to provide a national level perspective on how REDD+ funding is being managed now and how it could be managed in the future. Interviewees were asked to complete a ‘stakeholder map’, then answer questions on existing and projected REDD+ funding management at a national, sub-national and project level. The analysis of these interviews, supplemented with desk based research, are presented in six case study reports in this report. These country reports are based on data collected from February to August 2010 and as such may not capture the most recent REDD+ policy changes and project development. Read more

SNRE Program Areas: 

  • Conservation Ecology (Aquatic Sciences, Terrestrial Ecosystems, and Conservation Biology)
  • Environmental Policy and Planning
  • Behavior, Education, and Communication
  • Environmental Informatics
  • Environmental Justice
  • Sustainable Systems

INVEST Ecosystem Services Valuation With The Natural Capital Project

April 22, 2013

Client Organization: The Natural Capital Project
SNRE Faculty Advisors: Michael Moore and Allen Burton
Master Students Involved in Project: 
  • Martha Campbell (Erb ’13), MBA/MS Sustainable Systems
  • Kirsten Howard, MS Environmental Policy and Planning
  • Kevin Le, MS Environmental Policy and Planning
  • John Shriver, MS Sustainable Systems
  • Lisa Wan, MS Environmental Policy and Planning
Summary of Project Idea: 

The Natural Capital Project (NatCap) is an innovative partnership among Stanford University, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), University of Minnesota (UMN), and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) aimed at aligning economic forces with conservation. Our vision is a world in which people and institutions recognize natural systems as capital assets, appreciate the vital roles they play in supporting human well-being, and incorporate the intrinsic and economic values of natural capital into decision making.

NatCap has 3 major foci to develop and promote this strategy: (1) develop general tools and approaches, such as InVEST for Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs; (2) apply these for refinement, feedback, and achievement of conservation results at focal demonstration sites around the world; and (3) magnify the impact. Our free suite of Ecosystem Services models (InVEST) allows ArcGIS users to quantify the biophysical and economic value of natural resources such as forests and riparian buffers. We adopted a tiered approach, with “Tier 1″ models being simple process-based or regression based models with minimal data requirements (and thus widely applicable), and “Tier 2″ models of higher complexity and larger data requirements.    Read more

SNRE Program Areas:

  • Conservation Ecology (Aquatic Sciences, Terrestrial Ecosystems, and Conservation Biology)
  • Environmental Policy and Planning
  • Behavior, Education, and Communication
  • Environmental Informatics
  • Environmental Justice
  • Sustainable Systems

InterNational Bank Sustainability Strategy – Integrating To INB To Banorte

April 22, 2013

Client Organization: Grupo Financiero Banorte
Client Contact: Jeremy Taub
Client Website: Grupo Financiero Banorte
SNRE Faculty Advisor: Scott Noesen
Master Students Involved in Project: 
Summary of Project Idea: 
Banorte is the third largest Mexican bank and has also presence in the US through the Texas based InterNational Bank and the remittance companies Motran and Uniteller. Banorte currently wants to define a sustainability strategy for the InterNational Bank (INB) as a key component of integrating INB into Banorte.
Leveraging Banorte’s environmental and social governance expertise in Mexico the master project team is expected to deliver a 3-5 year sustainability strategy (roadmap) that will serve as a key component to further integrate the INB into Banorte.
The sustainability strategy is expected to address the main materiality issues faced today by the INB while at the same time serve as a common cultural link between Banorte and INB in order to continue fostering corporate culture integration and environmental/social stewardship between the two banks.
SNRE Program Areas: 
  • Environmental Policy and Planning
  • Behavior, Education, and Communication
  • Sustainable Systems

Read more

Crucial Creeks Watershed Project

April 22, 2013

Client Organization: Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council
SNRE Faculty Advisor: Allen Burton and Dave Allan
Master Students Involved in Project: 
  • Elizabeth Lillard, MS Sustainable Systems
  • Diana Portner, MS Behavior, Education and Communicaiton
  • Julie Riggio, MS Environmental Policy and Planning/Conservation Ecology
  • Bo Williams, MBA/MS Environmental Policy and Planning
  • Leah Zimmerman (Erb ’14), MBA/MS Behavior Communication and Education/Conservation Ecology

Summary of Project Idea:  The purpose of this project is to investigate issues affecting the water quality and ecosystem health of two threatened streams in Northern Michigan and collaborate with local stakeholders to develop individualized watershed management plans, as well as a framework for implementation.  The “crucial creeks“ include Stover Creek, a tributary of Lake Charlevoix that drains directly into Lake Michigan, and Tannery Creek, a tributary of Little Traverse Bay that is the fourth largest bay in Lake Michigan.  Lake Charlevoix and Little Traverse Bay are extremely important natural resources in Northern Michigan that warrant the utmost protection due to their ecological value, as well as recreational and economic value for local communities.  Comprehensive assessments, management plans, and ultimately, restoration, are needed for these stream systems because monitoring data show declining water quality and diversity loss in biological communities as a result of urbanization in the lower stream sections.

SNRE Program Areas: 

  • Conservation Ecology (Aquatic Sciences, Terrestrial Ecosystems, and Conservation Biology)
  • Environmental Policy and Planning
  • Behavior, Education, and Communication
  • Sustainable Systems
  • Landscape Architecture

Read more

Global BrightLight Foundation – Building A Business Plan For Solar Lamp & Cell Phone Charger Distribution

December 3, 2012

Students:
1. Adam Byrnes, MBA/MS 2014 Sustainable Systems
2. Emilia Sibley, MBA/MS 2014 Sustainable Systems
3. Sabrina Sullivan, MBA/MS 2014 Sustainable Systems
4. Jimmy Ward, MBA/MS 2014 Sustainable Systems

Faculty advisor(s):  Scott Noesen and Michael Gordon

Client organization(s):  The Global BrightLight Foundation and Duke Energy

Client:  Global BrightLight Foundation

Worldwide over 1.5 billion people live without any access to electricity. In the world’s 50 poorest countries, almost 80 percent of the people lack access to electricity. They rely on firewood and kerosene for their energy supply, adversely affecting their environment, health, and personal safety and hindering their opportunities for economic progress. The Global BrightLight Foundation was established as a not-for-profit entity to provide globally accessible and affordable energy solutions to people living at the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) that currently lack access to electricity and power. Through this effort, BrightLight’s ultimate goal is to improve the education, community environment, economic opportunities and resulting quality of life of the BoP. However, to realize BrightLight’s goals, the organization required an understanding of the current state of the market, a review of current market actors, an analysis of BrightLight’s current capabilities, and a strategic analysis to position BrightLight within existing and future market dynamics.

Working collaboratively as a Masters Project team, we provided valuable input to BrightLight on the development of their social enterprise model as a facilitator delivering solar power technologies to the base of the pyramid. Using five research phases – Market Assessment, Alternative Development, Targeted Business Plan, Growth Strategy, and Thought Leadership – we researched, crafted, and delivered a detailed analysis of the current field of BoP electrification organizations, a creative business model and a detailed business plan for the Foundation , in addition to having facilitated a strategic workshop to formalize the organization’s guiding principles and objectives.

The team used a combination of primary and secondary company and academic research to develop a business case and feasible, effective chemicals management strategy. Read more

SNRE Program Areas:

  • Environmental Policy and Planning
  • Behavior, Education, and Communication
  • Sustainable Systems

Zero-Waste at the Big House: Minimizing Waste at Michigan Stadium

July 27, 2012

By Jenna Agins, Catherine Dyson, Raphael Meyer & Leah Zimmerman

With a zero-waste program at Michigan Stadium, UM Athletics could step into a position of leadership in sustainability by diverting up to 90% of the waste generated on gamedays to commercial recycling and composting facilities. This study explores the feasibility of such an endeavor and is based on primary and secondary research, a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis and a comprehensive cost analysis.

Zero-Waste at the Big House: Minimizing Waste at Michigan Stadium (pdf)

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